EPA Warning on Teflon Agreement

DuPont agrees to phase out C8

Columbus Dispatch, Spencer Hunt
Published January 26, 2006

DuPont and seven other companies have been asked to stop - by 2015 - releasing a chemical that helps make the popular nonstick coating Teflon, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said yesterday. The EPA also plans to put perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOA or C8, on its list of publicly reported toxic chemicals. The decision comes before EPA scientists have issued a final opinion on the chemical's health risks. The EPA's toxic-chemical list, known as the toxic-release inventory, includes compounds that cause cancer and other health problems. Companies must file reports each year showing their amount of such waste and what happens to it. "The science on PFOA is still coming in, but the concern is there," said Susan Hazen, acting assistant administrator of the EPA's office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. "It's the right thing to do, for our health and the environment." Products using Teflon include nonstick pots and pans, stainresistant carpets and pants and water-repellant jackets. DuPont officials said they will comply with the EPA request. They said no trace of C8 exists in Teflon-coated pots and pans, but they are testing a theory that other chemicals used to bond Teflon to carpeting and fibers could break down into C8 over time. The company says it has not found any evidence that C8 is harmful, but spokesman Clif Webb said DuPont has no problem putting it, and a group of similar chemicals, on the toxic-release inventory. "We believe (the inventory) is a good vehicle for providing EPA and the public with transparent progress reports on PFOA reductions," Webb said in an e-mail. Health studies suggest that most people have trace amounts of C8 - about 5 parts per billion - in their blood. Studies have linked C8 to cancer in lab animals, but no one is sure if it has the same effect on humans. A panel of EPA scientists said in June that C8 is a "likely" cancer risk for people, but it has yet to produce a final report. The agency asked the eight companies to make a 95 percent cut in factory releases of C8 and other chemicals that can break down into C8 by 2010, followed by a total elimination in 2015. The agency has the same time frame for companies to find ways to eliminate C8 in products. DuPont uses C8 at its Washington Works Plant in West Virginia to help keep raw Teflon at an even consistency so it can be more easily turned into a powder or pellets. That plant was the focus of a lawsuit by thousands of Ohio and West Virginia residents after elevated levels of C8 were found in drinking water. The company agreed in 2004 to pay as much as $343 million to settle the class-action lawsuit. DuPont supplies bottled water to residents of the Little Hocking area near the Ohio River, and it is installing filters on drinking-water plants in six Ohio and West Virginia water districts. DuPont said it already had achieved a 94 percent reduction in C8 emissions from its plants this year. The EPA sent letters to 3M/Dyneon, Arkema Group, AGC Chemicals/Asahi Glass, Ciba Specialty Chemicals, Clariant Corp., Daikin and Solvay Solexis. 3M spokesman Bill Nelson said his company had just received the letter and couldn't respond. But he said 3M stopped using C8 and another chemical called PFOS at its U.S. plants by 2004. The EPA hopes to get commitments from the companies by March 1 and annual progress reports every October. The Washington-based Environmental Working Group praised the EPA and DuPont for taking steps to reduce the amount of C8 in the environment. But the group said it still will push for a ban on the substance. "C8 has everything in common with chemicals that have been banned in the past, like DDT. It has persistence, the toxicity and the ability to accumulate in people," said Anne Singer, a Working Group spokeswoman. "It deserves a full-out ban."